Cervical screening in Canada, 2023-24
Linking HPV immunization status and screening results
Publicly funded, school-based HPV immunization is offered to children in all provinces and territories, generally between grades 4 and 7. All jurisdictions have HPV immunization catch-up programs for people who were not immunized as children, with many jurisdictions offering extended eligibility for certain groups (e.g., men who have sex with men, individuals living with HIV, transgender people). Individuals who do not qualify for these programs can privately purchase the HPV vaccine series.
Six provinces and one territory are able to link screening results and specific cytology results with immunization status. Alberta and Saskatchewan are currently exploring options for possible linkage.
Cervical screening programs that collect data on HPV immunization status and link screening results with immunization status
| P/T | The program can link cervical screening results (i.e., normal and abnormal results) with the immunization status of the screening participant | HPV immunization status can be linked to a specific cytology result (e.g., HSIL) |
|---|---|---|
| YT | – | – |
| NT | ✓ | ✓ Can link to LSIL, HSIL, AGC and ASC-H. Cervical screening data does not include CIN information. |
| NU* | – | – |
| BC | – | – |
| AB | Exploring options for possible linkage | |
| SK | Exploring linkage with SK Ministry of Health | |
| MB | ✓ | ✓ |
| ON | – | – |
| QC | Currently no organized program | |
| NB | ✓ As a formal data request; screening program (CS-IIS) is currently not able to receive or store HPV immunization data |
✓ As a formal data request; screening program (CS-IIS) is currently not able to receive or store HPV immunization data |
| NS | ✓ | ✓ |
| PE | ✓ | ✓ |
| NL | ✓ | ✓ Able to link data with linkages from the cytology register with data from the provincial government’s immunization program |
*NU: Paper immunization cards are currently the “source of truth” documents for the immunization registry. Nunavut does not have an additional electronic immunization registry.
-YT, NU, BC, ON: No information was provided at the time data were collected.
Abbreviations:
- AGC: atypical glandular cells
- ASC-H: atypical squamous cells, cannot exclude HSIL
- CIN: Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia
- LSIL: low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion
- HSIL: high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion